NEW C-VILLE COVER STORY: Take the money and run

In the face of a recession that boasts close to 10 percent unemployment, 1.5 percent personal bankruptcy per annum, mass foreclosures and little sign of letting up anytime soon, the question of mental health, and in particular, happiness, seems more vital than ever. And new UVA research suggests that when it comes to spending your money, experiences, rather than stuff, is what’ll turn that frown upside down. Read the cover story here, and don’t forget to leave comments.

Elizabeth Valtierra was nervous. Like many across the nation, the Charlottesville High School senior spent election night with her family, gathered around a television in the living room. As the earliest states were called for Donald Trump, her family made jokes and tried to laugh it off. They

For many artists, the act of promoting their own work can feel counterintuitive, a business that necessitates turning outward to the public after so much time spent turned inward in order to create. For this reason, local author Carolyn O’Neal says with some surprise, “I’ve become, oddly, a

Even in November, balmy weather and the Virginia Film Festival had throngs out on the Downtown Mall. But it wasn’t always that way. For years after Charlottesville bricked its main street in 1976, the place was a ghost town after 5pm. Landscape architect Lawrence Halprin’s early 1970s vision of

On a recent day, Cristine Nardi, executive director of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence, was working with four different nonprofits on a variety of challenges: a succession plan for an executive director; how to handle a potential sexual harassment issue within the organization; how to do a

When several vacancies in the Charlottesville Fire Department opened at the same time, Fire Chief Andrew Baxter (who’s been chief for a little more than a year) decided to institute a new hiring process. The in-depth application, which included a personal history questionnaire, was meant to

For Ian Glomski, 2012 was a watershed year. He turned 40 and narrowly escaped a massive wildfire while on a birthday fly-fishing trip in Wyoming. He served as a juror for the George Huguely trial and fought cancer for the first time. “All of that added up,” he says, and with mortality on the

It’s been 11 years since Carrie Underwood became the fourth “American Idol” winner and arguably the show’s most successful contestant—she’s sold almost 15 million albums. Her best-selling track to date, “Before He Cheats,” is a catchy, bared-soul retaliation fantasy that put nine awards,

“I love the way an empty pie crust shell looks like an opportunity,” says local food writer and amateur baker Jenée Libby. “Are you going to make a sweet pie? A savory one?” Libby recently made a sweet pie—a sweet potato speculoos pie with a gingersnap crust, to be exact—to nab top honors at

The Charlottesville area has always been shaped by immigrants, and we have a long tradition of recognizing them for it. French-born Claudius Crozet, who served as an engineer in Napoleon’s army, constructed the first railroad from Charlottesville to Richmond in 1851. He then blasted a railway

Throughout the month of September, an audio-visual exhibition called “Landscapes of Slavery and Segregation” provides historical context to Charlottesville in three different locations: the Downtown Mall, the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center and UVA Grounds. Curated by

“Bronco’s office is under renovation,” I’m told as I walk into UVA head football coach Bronco Mendenhall’s temporary office in July. “They’re adding bookshelves.” Mendenhall sits at the end of a long table in a conference room, surrounded by pieces of paper. He looks every bit the part of a

From Coachella to Firefly, Nashville-based pop rockers Moon Taxi have spent the summer honing their upbeat, charismatic live set at music festivals across the country. Their songs, inspired by life on the road and the power of the human bond, blend personal lyrics, synths, guitar, bass and

I heard about a patch of ribolla gialla vines in Barboursville, and I had to go and see them to find out what was happening with these special grapes. Luca Paschina, the winemaker at Barboursville Vineyards, first tasted wine made from ribolla gialla about 30 years ago. “It was the mid-1980s in

From amid the anger over uninspired sequels and reboots this summer emerges Pete’s Dragon, a delightful family movie that’s firm on its own foundation and follows its own creative vision while using its source material as a platform to reach new heights. Ostensibly remaking Disney’s 1977

For all its utility in tracking our planetary revolutions, earthly seasons and our personal development from one sunrise to the next, time may be the human construct that inspires the most anxiety. If you find conventional planners too rigid, digital calendars too ethereal, if you seem

A Ukrainian clarinetist, an Italian organist, and a Chilean-born cellist are coming to Staunton this month. So are a Hungarian violist, two Finnish violinists, a German composer and a bevy of specialists in Baroque and Renaissance music skilled on the antique instruments that music was written

Even though updos are typically seen as a more formal style, we challenged hairstylist Brianna B. Adams to create three carefree, romantic options for inspiration. Model Amber Griggs wears earrings by Ana Cavalheiro (anacavalheiro.com) and a gown from Sealed With A Kiss